A rough sleeper battered a homeless man to death and tried to kill two others in a revenge attack, a court heard today.

Harbarjan Singh, 31, was found collapsed with a bloodied face in St Mary’s Cemetery in High Road, Ilford by a 15 year-old schoolboy in September last year.

The Old Bailey heard Jaswinder Singh, 48, of Town Road, Edmonton waited until Harbarjan and his friends were asleep before attacking them with an iron bar.

The killer had sworn vengeance after being beaten up outside a supermarket in Ilford on August 31 last year, the court was told.

Prosecutor Zoe Johnson said: “A week or so before the murder there had been an altercation between them outside Sainsbury’s. It seems the deceased got the better of him on that occasion.

“He had been beaten, publicly humiliated and was swearing revenge.”

Jaswinder launched his assault around 12.30am on September 9, 2010 when Harbarjan, an Indian illegal immigrant and his friends had bedded down behind commercial premises next to St Mary’s cemetery in High Road, Ilford.

Jit Singh later told police that he was in a deep sleep when attacked.

Miss Johnson said: “‘He woke up screaming and saw the defendant hitting his head with a three to four foot long piece of wood.”

Harbarjan’s friends suffered serious head injuries but managed to flee but he could not escape.

Harteerth also told police that Jaswinder hit him in the face with a bottle of Famous Grouse whisky.

Jit was spotted wandering shoeless down the street with blood over his face and was taken to hospital, triggering a police search for Harbajan.

They found him dead on his mattress hours later.

The court heard witnesses had seen Jaswinder breathing heavily and holding a bloodspattered iron bar near the cemetery.

Jaswinder Singh denies murder and two counts of attempted murder.